Podcast Episode 1: How I Got Hooked on the Mississippi River

In the inaugural episode of the Mississippi Valley Traveler podcast, host Dean Klinkenberg describes his journey to the Mississippi River. After leaving behind a small city in the corn belt, he started college in a Mississippi River town where the river first captured his heart and imagination, but it would be a while before his life centered around learning and writing about the Mississippi.

Below are photos of three varieties of orchids native to Minnesota: the Showy Lady’s Slipper, the Yellow Lady’s Slipper, and the Dragon’s Mouth.

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Dean (00:00):

While the lofty Rocky Mountains may inspire people to climb great heights, the Mississippi invites us to slow down, to relax on a beach, to ruminate, to take it easy.

Dean (00:21):

Welcome to the Mississippi Valley Traveler podcast. I’m Dean Klinkenberg and I’ve been exploring the deep history and rich culture of the people and places along America’s greatest river, the Mississippi, since 2007. Join me as I go deep into the characters and places along the river, and occasionally wander into other stories from the Midwest and other rivers. Read the episode show notes and get more information on the Mississippi at MississippiValleyTraveler.com. Let’s get going.

Dean (00:59):

Hey folks. And welcome to episode one of the Mississippi Valley Traveler podcast. The Mississippi River has inspired poets, painters, writers, photographers, and thrill seekers, and it inspires me nearly every day, too. This podcast will feature stories about the people and places along the Mississippi River. Sometimes we’ll dig deep into the river’s past. Other times we’ll focus on what’s going on today. I want to begin though, by sharing some of my own story, by telling you about my journey getting to know this river. I live just a couple of miles away from the Mississippi in St. Louis today, but I didn’t grow up with the river. I got attached to it as an adult. Here’s the story.

Dean (01:49):

Let’s go back to when it started, to 1982. If I’d had a Spotify playlist back then it would’ve included I Ran by A Flock of Seagulls, I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett, Don’t You Want Me by the Human League and Tainted Love by Softcell. Still a pretty darn good playlist, if you ask me. Star Trek 2, the Wrath of Khan satisfied the sci-fi nerd in me while Porky’s stimulated, let’s just say a different kind of urge. And one of those movies has definitely held up much better than the other. I think we can all agree on that. Later that year, the Mississippi River entered my life in a pretty subtle way, and the image of how it did so is as fresh in my mind now as it was then. I was riding in a car with my parents, driving east from Albert Lea, Minnesota, toward a transition from teenager to young man. For two hours, we rolled past open fields that would soon be covered with corn.

Dean (02:44):

As we got close to La Crosse, Wisconsin, the place where I was about to begin a new life as a college student full of dreams… and a fair amount of dread, to be honest… something startling happened: Interstate 90 bent and descended and in front me the great Mississippi River Valley opened up, Tantalizing blue ribbons broken up by slices of brown and green filled up more and more of the space in front of us. I was mesmerized. I wondered if I was still in the Midwest. It wasn’t the first time that I had set eyes on the great river, but it was the first time I remember seeing it. It was the moment the Mississippi River grabbed my attention and it hasn’t let go since. People regularly ask me why I’m so hooked on the Mississippi and that memory of seeing the river as we descended from the corn belt to the lush valley is one of the reasons. But there are plenty more.

Dean (03:38):

As a college student in La Crosse. I loved being near the river. I hiked around the bluffs and rode my bike down to its banks. Sometimes I’d just sit there and think, or maybe just brood. I was an emotional mess at times. And the river provided a studying force in my life, a place to regroup. Basically it gave me a place to escape the daily routines of my life, but the river did more than that too. As I sat and watched birds coming and going and an occasional beaver working harder than me or the swirling and tumbling water passing in front of me, I felt comforted. I felt like I was part of something bigger. Near the end of my college life, I paddled on the Mississippi for the first time. A friend and I put a beat up aluminum canoe into the water near La Crosse and started paddling up river.

Dean (04:25):

Maybe that wasn’t the best introduction to the joys of paddling on the Mississippi, by going against the big river’s current. But we wanted to get to an island where we could hang out on a beach for the afternoon. So we were gonna have to paddle upriver at some point to get back to my car. Why not do the hard work first? It made sense to us. It took a while to find a desirable spot to stop, longer than we really expected. But when we got there, we stripped down, enjoyed a swim, then laid on the sand to dry off in the sun. The paddle back to the boat ramp went a lot quicker–too quick, honestly–but that feeling of lazing on a sandy beach next to the river stuck with me. A year later, I left La Crosse for graduate school and a new life in St. Louis, another Mississippi River town but one with a very different relationship to the river. When I got here, the Mississippi at St. Louis was treated like a pariah –hidden behind flood walls, barge terminals, and neglect. I missed the ease of biking to its banks and watching the flow of wildlife, but graduate school and a new relationship with my future husband kept me busy enough.

Dean (05:32):

After too many years as a student, I landed a job that kept me in St. Louis. I worked as an academic psychologist at a research at a research Institute for 12 years. I wrote grants and managed projects. I worked long days in an office on projects where we tested innovative ways to help people who were homeless, living with a mental illness or addiction, or HIV/AIDS. You know, just the light stuff. Our progress was slow, very slow at times, because, you know, science isn’t really built to deliver quick answers.

Dean (06:02):

Even though I grew more and more adept at winning grants and publishing papers, the hallmarks of success in an academic career, I felt increasingly removed from the people we were trying to help. And that really bothered me. I felt stuck behind that desk and and grew restless as my daily routine became more entangled in bureaucratic flow charts that only Rube Goldberg could love. My restlessness morphed into depression and anger. One day I found myself writing an inflammatory email to a partner at another agency. In the moment, I felt like her actions had undercut my ability to do my job well. I sent a long, hateful email and copied her boss, which triggered a series of tense meetings. And the realization that I had grossly overreacted. I was a laid back guy, difficult to provoke. Well, most of the time. Anyway, the problem was really me, not her. A few months later, I quit that job.

Dean (07:02):

I didn’t have a grand plan about what I wanted to do next. About the only thing that was clear to me as I left the university was I wanted to spend more time traveling and less time behind a desk. By then, John and I had taken some international trips. I really loved the feeling of being out on the road. I’ve always been a curious sort and traveling, felt invigorating to me, as I got to know new places and meet new people, especially in places where life was very different from what I knew. Each trip inspired ideas about what I wanted to do next. So I figured why couldn’t I write about my own travel experiences?

Dean (07:48):

Unfortunately, I had no idea what it took to make a living as a writer. I didn’t know a thing about the business side of the profession and my timing just was awful. I started my career as a travel writer just as magazines were going out of business and the market for travel content–the market that paid decently, anyway–was collapsing. Still, I didn’t understand any of that at the time. I looked around the world at what I could write about and figured that no one was really doing justice to the Mississippi valley. So I made that my calling, I took some tentative steps. I created a brand, the Mississippi Valley Traveler. I started a website, MississippiValleyTraveler.com. I took a few short trips and wrote blogs about those trips. I started to meet people and discovered that a lot of those places along the Mississippi had far more depth to them than I had ever imagined.

Dean (08:40):

I was feeling inspired again. I continued to do consulting work as I took longer and longer trips along the Mississippi. I spent a few weeks in the Quad Cities in 2008, then published my first book, a travel guide for the Quad Cities in 2009. Later that year I published the Lansing to LeClair Guide, then the Driftless Area guide in 2010. Each time I published a new book, I felt optimistic about my work. But the reality was that I still wasn’t good at the business side of travel writing. I had a few nice successes. I wrote a few articles for newspapers and regional magazines, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I sold some books. I even got a nice shout out from a reviewer at the Chicago Tribune. But I wasn’t making enough money to pay my bills. And, I knew that what I was doing just wasn’t financially sustainable.

Dean (09:33):

I indulged one last big trip before looking around for a steadier source of income. I spent the summer of 2011 in northern Minnesota, so I could get to know the area where the Mississippi begins. It was a fantastic summer full of experiences that still make me smile. Strangers went out of their way to help me. I ate a lot of walleye and wild rice and I made a bunch of new friends. I joined a coffee clutch, at a local Arby’s in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, with a bunch of retired guys. Coffee there only cost 25 cents, which was a good price for those older guys on a fixed income. Immigration agents hassled me on both sides of the border when I traveled to and from Canada, so that was exciting. A bear ate out of my hand. That was spectacular. It was just an awesome time.

Dean (10:25):

When I got back to St. Louis, I struggled for a few weeks to figure out what to do next. I didn’t want to let go of writing about the Mississippi, but I needed to make more money than I was. I ended up taking a part-time job in St. Louis that put me back in the world I had tried to leave. Only this time, I was a bit player instead of running the show, and I was okay with that. I kept at it for five years, but man, it was a struggle at times. I didn’t get to travel as much as I had before, so I spent more time getting to know places that were closer to home. I did get in a few pretty good trips, though. I went on some overnight canoe trips with small groups of other river rats, which opened up a new way of experiencing the river. I grew more confident paddling small boats on the big river because of those trips. I traveled to New Orleans and Memphis and to the Delta. I got to spend some time traveling on the American Queen as a guest lecturer. And all of those experiences helped me imagine the possibilities of what I might be able to do next. As I worked on a new path forward, I followed the advice of a friend and started writing mysteries set in places along the Mississippi. I created a character who has some resemblance to me–Frank Dodge–and got busy sending him up and down the Mississippi to see what kind of trouble he could get into. And it turns out he can get into a lot of trouble. Through it all, the Mississippi remained a steady and steadying influence on me. Yeah, I love city life, but sometimes I need a break from the noise and the crowds. Time along the river gives me that refreshing change of scenery and quiet.

Dean (11:59):

Over the years, I’ve found more and more ways to enjoy river time. In the first few years of my work along the river, I did a lot of hiking. Because of that, I hiked to the tops of many of the bluffs along the upper Mississippi, at least the ones that are on public lands. The hikes could be physically challenging, but they came with spectacular rewards like wide views of the river valley, sometimes spread over a 270 degree perspective. And occasionally on a goat prairie on top of a bluff, there would be the occasional endangered or rare flowers in bloom. They’re pretty spectacular. I’ve also gotten more comfortable in canoes and kayaks as I mentioned, and now I take at least one multi-day trip every year with friends where we camp on islands on the river. Now I know a lot of people love float trips on smaller rivers. I get the appeal. I’ve done those too. But give me a big river. I love the feeling of moving on the river, moving on a big river in a canoe kayak that helps me feel the rhythms of the river’s world, but that doesn’t induce every critter to flee from me. Paddling with the current sometimes feels as easy as you know, the cliché of sliding a hot knife through butter. Just don’t ask me about paddling into headwinds. I like the challenge of learning how to read the what the surface of the water has to say about what’s hidden underneath. And there’s nothing a sublime as a sunset along the Mississippi River from a remote island. Time on the river still calms and inspires me.

Dean (13:40):

I eventually left that part-time job and dived back into riding full-time. It’s been a rollercoaster at times to be honest, but there’s just no substitute for being my own boss. And I get to spend a good chunk of time along the Mississippi. I know that makes me a lucky man. The river’s appeal has only grown deeper as I’ve gotten to know it. The Mississippi is a treasure perfect for Midwestern sensibilities. It has a subtle, understated beauty that doesn’t lend itself to boasting (like us Midwesterners). While the lofty Rocky Mountains may inspire people to climb great heights, the Mississippi invites us to slow down, to relax on a beach, to ruminate.

Dean (14:25):

Ultimately though, I’ve come to understand that the Mississippi is an extraordinary life force. One that supports an incredible range of creatures from tiny zooplankton to massive alligator gar. People have lived along and off the river for at least 12,000 years, even though most of us are only familiar with stories from the time of Mark Twain forward. I hope to do something about that. I want to shine a light on the incredible life that the river supports. I want to go deep into the stories that tell us about the many ways we have related to and depended on this river for thousands of years. I want to show you the river as I see it. So come along with me as I share what I’ve learned about the river’s world, the thousands of years of human history along the river, and the rich cultural heritage of the places in the heart of north America. There are a lot of stories to tell. In each episode, we’ll take a look at one slice of life along the great river. And I’d love to hear your stories, too. How did you get hooked on the Mississippi River? Contact me at my website, MississippiValleyTraveler.com and share your story.

Dean (15:33):

If you’re enjoying the show, share that love with other people. Leave a review on iTunes or your preferred podcast app. Each review makes a difference and helps other fans of the Mississippi River and the Midwest find this show.

Dean (15:57):

Now it’s time for the Mississippi minute: a quick tip, maybe a highlight of a particular place, a note about a timely topic, or just whatever’s on my mind. In this Mississippi minute, we’re gonna take a quick look at the orchids of Minnesota. I mentioned in this episode that I spent the summer of 2011 in northern Minnesota. One of the things that amazed me was the number of orchids that are native to this cold state. I’ve always associated orchids with the tropics, but in decidedly non-tropical Minnesota, there are 46 varieties of orchids that are native. Orchids dazzle with their bold colors and shapes. They kind of look like something that might have been designed by a fantasy writer, especially the pedal that is often shaped like a lip. In Minnesota, more than half of the native orchids are found in wetlands, places like the Pennington Bog near Bemidji, or the bogs at Itasca State Park or Lake Bemidji State Park.

Dean (17:00):

Most of these orchids will be in bloom from mid-May to mid-June, and they’re quite spectacular. As I’ve said, one of those orchids, the showy lady slipper is the official state flower of Minnesota. There’s another variety that I think is just as dramatic. It’s the yellow lady’s slipper, which are more likely to be found in hardwood forests that get a moderate amount of moisture. A couple of years ago, I walked the bog trail at Lake Bemidji State Park at just the right time of year. We saw plenty of showy lady’s slippers but along that walk we also came across what I thought was just as dramatic and fascinating–the dragon’s mouth orchid. I’ll post a couple pictures of these orchids in the show notes for this episode. So, make sure to check out orchids in Minnesota, if you happen to be there in May or June. All right. Well, that’s it for this week. I’ll see you on the river.

Dean (18:02):

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the series on your favorite podcast app, so you don’t miss out on future episodes. I offer the podcast for free, but when you support the show with a few bucks through Patreon, you help keep the program going. Just go to patreon.com/DeanKlinkenberg. If you want to know more about the Mississippi River, check out my books. I write the Mississippi Valley Traveler guidebooks for people who want to get to know the Mississippi better. I also write the Frank Dodge mystery series that is set in places along the river. Find them wherever books are sold. The Mississippi Valley Traveler podcast is written and produced by me, Dean Klinkenberg. Original music by Noah Fence. See you next time.